Dock seals and shelters are commonly used to provide a weather seal between the end of a truck body and the loading dock. A dock seal generally comprises a pair of resilient pads which are mounted on the outer wall of the dock, alongside the doorway, and an upper pad that extends across the top of the doorway. When a truck backs toward a loading dock, the end of the truck will engage and compress the pads to provide a weather seal between the body and the dock.
The side pads of the dock seal must necessarily have a substantial width in order to accommodate truck bodies of varying widths, as well as to accommodate driver misalignment as the truck is backed toward the dock. Because of this, the dock seal will normally extend inwardly of the truck body and encroach upon the access to the body. The encroachment of the dock seal into the truck body not only provides a problem when dealing with end loads, but the projecting edge of the dock seal can be accidentally contacted by mechanical material handling eguipment, such as a fork lift truck, causing damage to the seal.
Dock shelters, as opposed to seals, are adapted to engage the outer wall of the truck body to provide a weather seal. In some cases, dock shelters are relatively complex devices requiring electrical or hydraulic power sources to move the panels of the shelter into engagement with the side walls of the truck after the truck as parked in front of the dock.
While a dock shelter can provide an effective seal to a truck body having an overhead door, the conventional dock shelter will not provide a complete seal when used with truck bodies having outwardly swinging doors. In a loading operation, the doors are swung outwardly to the open position where they are substantially flush with the outer surface of the truck body and the side panels of the dock shelter will engage the outwardly swung doors. However, there is a gap between the outwardly swung door and the side of the truck body which will not be sealed by the conventional dock shelter.